The sluiced streams teem with heaps of gems; The fields abound in schools of carp; By their sides are seen heaps of flowers; Beyond them is beheld the splendor of Yagas; The rapture of scriptures fills the schools; The golden bees hum in ease; Bright are the gardens with the presence of saints; Towers and turrets are shrouded in clouds.

Bhagavan added further sanctity to the Mother's samadhi by living in the small building that had been erected over it for a period of 5(?) years. He only moved out of it in 1928 when the devotees constructed the old hall on an adjacent piece of land.

In the mid-1920s Bhagavan himself decided that a more substantial building was needed to house the Mother's samadhi. He decided to utilize some badly baked bricks that had been abandoned by some brick makers who had set up a temporary kiln near the ashram. Some devotees in town were called in to help move the bricks. One night they formed a human chain, with Bhagavan as one of the links, and transferred all the bricks one by one to the ashram. The following day a mud-and-brick wall was constructed around the samadhi. Bhagavan himself did all the work on the inside of the wall while a professional mason worked on the outside. The 'temple' was completed by erecting a thatched roof on top of the wall. This construction, the forerunner of the temple that now stands on the same site, remained unchanged for more than ten years.

In the 1930s Sri Ramanashram began to develop and expand. The cowshed, the dining room and the kitchen, the storeroom, the patasala, the old office and the bookstore were all built in a burst of activity between 1929 and 1938. At the end of this period the only remaining large, uncompleted project was a plan to build a proper stone temple over the Mother's samadhi. Since the construction of such a temple would be enormously expensive, many devotees were opposed to the plan on the grounds that it would be a white elephant that the ashram could ill afford. At Bhagavan's sixtieth birthday celebrations, which took place in January 1939, there was a long debate between those devotees who wanted a big temple and those who thought that the ashram's funds would be better invested in building more accommodation for visitors. The anti-temple group also wanted to acquire large tracts of land on which the ashram's food could be grown. Bhagavan remained aloof from the debate and no one at that time really knew what his own views on the subject were.

Although Bhagavan delegated most day-to-day management decisions to Chinnaswami, the ashram manager, he exercised a strict control over all the ashram's building projects. It was Bhagavan alone who decided when buildings should be constructed, where they should be built, on what scale they should be constructed, and even who should be put in charge of building them. He personally drew up the plans for many of the large buildings that now exist in the Asramam, and he refused even to look at alternative plans and blueprints that had been drawn up by professional engineers and architects. It was clear, therefore, that no action could be taken until Bhagavan himself gave the word.

Throughout the 1930s Annamalai Swami had been supervising all the major building projects in the Asramam. Each day he would receive his instructions directly from Bhagavan, and each evening he would go back to Bhagavan to tell him how much had been completed and how much still remained to be done. Chinnaswami therefore decided that Annamalai Swami was the best person to find out what Bhagavan's intentions really were.

He approached him and said, 'Bhagavan always tells his buildings plans directly to you. Please ask him what we should do about the Mother's Temple. Ask him whether we should build it simply or on a large scale.'

When Annamalai Swami conveyed the query to Bhagavan, Bhagavan finally disclosed his decision:'If it is constructed well, and on a large scale, I shall be happy.'

Chinnaswami, who had been in doubt about Bhagavan's intentions, was delighted because he had been wanting to build a big temple over his mother's Samadhi for many years. He immediately began to make preparations for the construction.

Since it was not ordinary building work, a qualified outsider had to be brought in. After careful consideration, the whole project was entrusted to Vaidyantha Sthapati, an expert in temple architecture and engineering. He brought with him many accomplished stone-masons who had had a lot of experience in temple construction.

When the project started, the ashram only had enough money to pay for a small portion of the work. Bhagavan knew that funds were in short supply but he made it clear that he wanted the temple to be financed out of unsolicited donations. He repeatedly told Chinnaswami and all the other devotees that they should never ask for funds on the ashram's behalf. Chinnaswami, however, felt that the temple could not be built without an aggressive fund-raising drive, so he went against Bhagavan's wishes and made several attempts to raise money. One typical effort, which was followed by a typical Bhagavan response, was described by T. P. Ramachandra Iyer in Bhagavan Smrtulu:

There was once a shortage of funds while the temple was being built. Money was needed immediately. At that time a man called Chaganlal Yogi came from Bombay for the first time. On seeing him Chinnaswami suggested to me: 'We need Rs 50,000 for the temple. So why don't the three of us go to Jamnalal Bajaj for the money and bring it? Introduce Chaganlal Yogi to me so that we can start.'

Chaganlal Yogi felt that the proposal was unacceptable. But because he was a newcomer and was feeling rather shy, he felt that he had no alternative but to accept. Chinnaswami made all the arrangements for his luggage but before we could depart we had first to cross the hurdle of telling Bhagavan about our mission. Chinnaswami never came before Bhagavan to speak; he always used to send a messenger if information had to be passed on to Bhagavan. On this occasion he selected me and asked me to tell Bhagavan about our journey.

'How can I tell Bhagavan such a thing?' I asked. 'You come with me.' Chinnaswami did not even have the courage for that so we had to collect some other people. We all went to Bhagavan while he was having a rest alone in the afternoon. We stood before him for some time but he didn't even look at us. His gaze was fixed elsewhere.

Each of us wanted one of the others to speak. Finally, Mouniswami told him what we wanted. For a long time Bhagavan made no response, but eventually he spoke: 'I have told you not to beg in my name. Now I am telling you again. Be satisfied with what you have. What is to happen will happen.

'If you now go and ask for money, will not the donors ask you whether you have my agreement or not, and whether I gave you permission for this? What do you intend to tell them if they ask questions like this?'

Chaganlal Yogi had got the excuse he was looking for. He told Bhagavan, 'Unless we tell them that you consented to this, none of them will given even a paisa.'

What more could they do? They slipped out one by one, and Chinnaswami's journey was cancelled. After this incident Bhagavan remarked, 'Did the construction of all these buildings occur because of my begging? It all happened in the way it was destined to happen. Nothing happens purely as a result of anyone's own efforts.'

Bhagavan's attitude to the construction work, and to the financing of it, is also brought out in the following stories which were narrated to me by Annamalai Swami:

Because all the stone masons who were working on the temple were paid on a daily basis, I was asked to supervise some of them to ensure that the ashram got value for money. Although I knew nothing about temple construction, I had had enough experience of supervising workers to see that the stone-masons were deliberately working very slowly. Since they were classified as skilled workers, they were getting a very high daily wage for doing very little. It seemed to me that they were deliberately taking about three days to do one day's work. I told them that they were cheating the ashram, and I tried to persuade them to work more honestly, but they refused to change their ways.

One of them told me, 'All you people are eating and sleeping here for nothing. Why are you troubling us about work? It is no loss to you if we work slowly.'

After a few unsuccessful attempts to get them to work, I reported the matter to Bhagavan. I told him, 'The temple workers are working very slowly. In the evening Chinnaswami pays them whatever I have written on the wages list. I don't like to waste the ashram's money on dishonest workers, but I have no authority to dismiss them. If I write each day that they must be paid for work that they have not done, am I not also cheating the Asramam?'

Bhagavan replied, 'Don't worry about this matter. If they cheat like this and get money that they have not earned out of the ashram, this money will not stay with them. Ultimately they will find that their only possessions are their hammers and chisels. The wages that they have received dishonestly will go to waste. They cannot cheat Bhagavan, they can only cheat themselves.'

Then, after pausing for a while, he added, 'We should not worry about the financial aspect of the work because God will supply all the money that we need.'

As usual, Bhagavan's faith was justified. The temple put a severe strain on the Asramam's finances but we always managed to keep the work going. On some days the Asramam had to depend on donations received during the day to pay the wages in the evening. At the start of the day we would hire workers, even though we knew that we had no money to pay them. During the day donations would arrive in various ways and by evening there would always be enough to pay the workers.'

Bhagavan made daily visits to the temple to watch the progress of the construction and to inspect the quality of the workmanship. If any of the work was not up to standard, he would call attention to it and request that the necessary improvements be made. On one visit, for example, he pointed out that there was too much space between the flagstones around the garbhagraha (the inner shrine), and on another occasion he requested that some cracks in the wall be property pointed with cement. Bhagavan occasionally initiated jobs himself. For example, when the walls of the garbhagraha had been completed, Bhagavan decided that the name of the temple should be inscribed on the front wall. Annamalai Swami, who was asked to help with this work, told me how it was done:

If one looks over the entrance to the garbhagraha one can see two elephants carved out of stone. Under their feet is a carved stone scroll. The full name of the temple, 'Mathrubuteswaralayam', meaning 'the temple of God in the form of the Mother', is carved in stone on this scroll. Bhagavan himself wrote out this name for me in big Sanksrit letters. His idea was that I should make a stencil and then paint the letters on the scroll. Later, one of the sthapatis would carve out the name by chiseling out the area covered by the painted letters.

I sat in Bhagavan's presence in the hall, carefully cutting out the name. I kept all my attention on the work because I knew that I would not be able to get away with even the smallest of mistakes. Bhagavan was watching me all the time I was working. At about 3 p.m. Bhagavan used to go out of the hall to urinate. At that time, on that day, he stood up and started to move towards the door. Everyone in the hall, except for me, stood up. I was in the middle of cutting out a letter; but I didn't want to risk spoiling it by taking my scissors away from the paper.

I heard a man muttering behind me, 'Bhagavan has stood up but this man has no respect. He is still sitting on the floor. He hasn't even stopped working.'

Bhagavan must have also heard this man because he seemed to change his mind about going outside. Instead, he came and sat next to me on the floor. He put his hand on my shoulder and watched intently as I finished cutting out that letter. Then, without bothering to take his expected trip outside, he got up and sat on his couch again. After that there were no more complaints about my disrespect.

When the cutting was over, I painted the letters on the scroll under the elephants' feet. As I was working there, the chief sthapati tried to stop me.

He called up to me: 'Stop doing that! I am the only man who is competent to write letters like that. How can you do these things properly?'

Bhagavan came to my rescue again. He had been standing nearby, watching me paint the letters. He silenced the sthapati by saying, 'He did not do it on his own authority. I myself told him to do it.'

The construction of the temple, which was concluded at the beginning of 1949, took approximately ten years. When it was finished the temple complex included a large stone hall that was originally intended to replace the old hall that Bhagavan had lived in since 1928. A large stone sofa was installed there for him to sit on, but when it came time to make the move, Bhagavan clearly indicated that he didn't want to either sit or live there. When he was first shown where his new sofa would be located, he complained that if he sat there, the monkeys and squirrels would not longer have access to him. And later, when a sculptor was carving a stone statue of him, he deflected a request that he move into the new hall by saying, 'Why don't you get the stone Swami to sit on the stone sofa?' He was finally persuaded to sit in the new hall, but even after the move he still continued to complain. After some time in his new residence he noticed a group of villagers trying to summon up courage to come in and see him. On that occasion he protested that the hall had been built on such a grandiose scale, poor people who wanted darshan would be too intimated by the size and grandeur of the building to enter it. Bhagavan eventually stayed in the new hall for about six months. The remaining few months of his life were spent in the mahanirvana room.

Although the main purpose of the Mother's Temple and the adjoining new hall was to provide an appropriate structure over the samadhi of the Mother, Chinnaswami had long nurtured an idea that Bhagavan's samadhi could also be incorporated into it. It seems that he had a plan to inter Bhagavan's body in a shrine that would be slightly to the north of the new hall. Chinnaswami had planned to make a large doorway in the northern wall that would connect the new hall with this shrine. In his reminiscences (3) K. K. Nambiar related the story of how Chinnaswami asked him to build a portion of the northern veranda of the new hall in such a way that it could be easily dismantled and replaced by an additional samadhi shrine. Chinnaswami tried to get Bhagavan's approval for this scheme. He sent a plan to Bhagavan that gave details of a large doorway in the northern wall of the new hall, but Bhagavan rejected it and sent back a reply that the wall should remain as it was. It would seem from these incidents that although Bhagavan fully supported the construction of the Mother's Temple, he had no inclination either to live or be buried in any part of it.

The kumbhabhishekam ceremony for the Mother's Temple, which was performed in March 1949, was a fitting climax to the years of effort that had been expended in its construction. The ceremonies, which lasted for four days, were attended by tens of thousands of people from all over India. On the final day alone, over 15,000 people were fed in the ashram. So many visitors came that extra trains were laid on from Madras and Madurai. For four days a shuttle service of buses ferried visitors to and from the train station, and the local Post Office had to be temporarily upgraded and expanded for a week to handle all the extra business. Two hundred priests, under the supervision of the Sankaracharya of Puri, carried out the rituals, while Bhagavan himself empowered the Sri Chakra that was to be worshipped in the main shrine. The temple had come a long way from the coconut-leaf hut of 1922.

Bhagavan himself summed up the rapid development of both the temple and the ashram when he remarked to T. P. Ramachandra Iyer, 'I suggested that the body be buried silently before dawn. But things happened the way they had to happen. See how many constructions have now come up on the site where a body was silently buried!

Sri Bhagavan's mother attained Self-realization in her dying moments on the evening of 19th May, 1922. The devotees, after some deliberations, decided that her body should be buried, rather than cremated, since that was the accepted procedure for women saints. They realized that it would be necessary to select a burial site at the foot of the hill, rather than on the hill itself, since the Arunachaleswara Temple authorities, who administered the part of the hill on which Skandashram had been built, would not allow any bodies to be buried on the mountain itself. Their logic was that since the mountain itself was a Sivalingam, it would be an act of desecration to inter a dead body on it. There was another temple rule, which was also strictly enforced, that forbade the worship of any images on the hill. This meant that even if the devotees had secretly buried the body on the hill, they would not have been permitted to raise a shrine over it and perform ritual worship there. In the 1930s Bhagavan revealed, in a deposition about the ownership of Arunachala, that the temple authorities had reminded him of one of these rules shortly after his mother had died:

On the hill there was one Saraswati Swami. That swami advertised that he wanted to perform ritual worship before an image of Lord Subramanian on the hill. The temple authorities objected and stopped it. In an official notice they said that the hill itself is Linga swarupa, and that to do ritual worship of another image on it, and to celebrate festivals there, is against the tradition of the sastras. On another occasion, when my mother attained samadhi, they raised a precautionary objection that her samadhi should not be on the hill; they feared that we might build her samadhi on the hill itself. On this occasion also their objection was that the hill is Iswara swarupa.

Bhagavan concurred with this attitude by saying, a little later in his deposition, 'There is an ancient tradition that this hill is Linga swarupa; that is to say, this hill itself is God. This tradition is not to be found anywhere else. That is the cause of the glory of this place.'

Because of these rules and traditions it was decided, on the evening the Mother died, that her body should be buried at the foot of the hill on the southern side of Arunachala. This location was selected because it was a traditional site for the burial of sadhus. It seems that Bhagavan initially wanted the body to be buried secretly and without ostentatious ceremonies. In later years he told T. P. Ramachandra Iyer that he had instructed the devotees to 'take the body in the dark without making any noise and without anyone knowing about it. Make a pit in no-man's land. Bury it quickly and come back before dawn.'

Since it would have been extremely difficult to carry the body down the hill in the middle of the night, the plan was never carried out. Instead, the devotees sat around the body until about 4 a.m., chanting verses from the Tiruvachakam. The burial party eventually left with the body just before dawn, at about 5 a.m.

The site that was initially selected for the samadhi was rather close to the road. Sri Ramakrishna Iyer, a devotee who was also the village munsif, suggested that it be relocated nearer the hill. He pointed out that if the burial site was well away from the road, it would be very convenient to construct a temple over it in later years. His suggestion was accepted and a large samadhi pit was dug according to the rules in the Tirumantiram that had been laid down for the burial of jnanis.

I asked Kunju Swami, who was present at Skandashram when the Mother died, why no one had attempted to carry out Bhagavan's original instructions. He replied:

It wasn't possible to get some of the things done in the middle of the night. Mother died late in the evening. Afterwards, there was a lot of work to do and many things to arrange. We needed to get the permission of the village munsif and also the permission of the Bavaji Math, which owned the land on which the samadhi pit was dug. These people were not available in the middle of the night. I didn't get the feeling that Bhagavan was serious about the hasty burial because he kept most of us at Skandashram and initiated a chanting of the Tiruvachakam that lasted almost the whole night. Mother's body did not leave Skandashram until shortly before dawn.

We wanted to do it properly. There is a tradition that if you bury a jnani's body in ordinary earth, that will be bad for any nearby town. It is equally bad if you burn it. In the Mother's case a special deep pit was made, lined with stones. In Tirumular's Tirumantiram it says that a jnani's body must be buried in a pit lined with stones. We followed this rule, but I don't thing that we followed all the other traditional rules because we were not aware of some of them at the time.

While the samadhi pit was being dug, the Mother's body was seated under a big peepul tree on the bank of the Pali Tirtham. So many devotees came from town to pay their last respects that a large area of cactus and shrub had to be cleared to accommodate them. After abhishekam had been done to the body, it was taken to the place of burial. Kunju Swami has described what happened next:

Sacred ash and sacred grasses were put inside the samadhi and the Mother's body was lowered into it. Sri Bhagavan and others each put in a handful of vibhuti and camphor. It was then covered with a stone slab on the top of which was placed a Siva lingam. The lingam was then worshipped in the traditional manner. At twelve noon all of us left for Palakottu. Bhagavan walked very slowly while the nadaswaram played on his instrument with great enthusiasm. The distance from the samadhi to Palakottu is not much more than a hundred yards, but it took the procession an hour to cover the distance. It was a beautiful scene as the musician played on his instrument with great gusto, looking to Bhagavan who was setting the slow pace at the head of the procession and slightly swaying in time to the rhythm on the music.(1)

From that day on, puja was performed daily at the shrine. On the tenth day after the Mother's liberation a special puja was done, about a thousand people were fed, and the moksha deepam, the light of liberation, was lit at the shrine. Thereafter, Bhagavan's brother, Chinnaswami, undertook the job of maintaining the samadhi and doing daily puja there.

Bhagavan continued to live at Skandashram but Chinnaswami and Dandapani Swami decided that they would live full-time near the Mother'ssamadhi. They erected a coconut-leaf hut over the shrine and built another hut nearby that they used as a kitchen. Rice, dhal and other provisions were brought down daily from Skandashram. These were converted into meals for the sadhus and into food offerings for the daily puja. Sometimes, when no food was available, Chinnaswami had to go begging in town to acquire the provisions for the daily puja.

At this stage of the ashram's development, food was often in short supply. The items of food that devotees contributed were stored in Vasudeva Sastry's house in Tiruvannamalai. Each day he would send enough provisions to Skandashram for a meal to be cooked there. As some of these provisions were taken to the Mother's samadhi, the sadhus who lived at Skandashram occasionally did not have enough food to eat. Vasudeva Sastry felt that there were insufficient resources to maintain two establishments, one at Skandashram and the other at the Mother's samadhi. Since some of the other devotees felt the same way, he sent a note to Ramanatha Brahmachari, who was living at Skandashram, which read, 'Devotees give not to Vasudeva but to Vaasudeva'. Since Vasudeva was the parent of Vaasudeva, the note implied that the devotees wanted their donations to go to Bhagavan and not to the institution that was beginning to grow up around the Mother's samadhi.

When Ramanatha Brahmachari showed the note to Bhagavan, Bhagavan expressed his approval of the activities that were going on at the Mother'ssamadhi by saying, 'How could there be Vaasudeva without Vasudeva?'

When this remark was conveyed to Vasudeva Sastry, he abandoned his opposition to the diversionof food. Shortly afterwards, Bhagavan left Skandashram for good and went to live in the hut that had been built over the Mother's samadhi. In later years he would say that it had been the 'divine will' that had prompted him to move down the hill and take up residence in his mother's shrine.

Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that it was the divine will that prevented him from leaving the shrine to go back to Skandashram, for he once told Devaraja Mudaliar, 'After Mother's death I used to come down now and then to the samadhi and return to Skandashram. One day, about six months after Mother's death, I went there on one such visit and after sitting there for some time, wanted to get up and go back. However, something told me that I should not go back but stay on there. It was as if my legs refused to get up. And I stayed on. That is how the asramam began. Who knew then that all this would grow up?'(2)

Bhagavan added further sanctity to the Mother's samadhi by living in the small building that had been erected over it for a period of 5(?) years. He only moved out of it in 1928 when the devotees constructed the old hall on an adjacent piece of land.

In the mid-1920s Bhagavan himself decided that a more substantial building was needed to house the Mother's samadhi. He decided to utilise some badly baked bricks that had been abandoned by some brick makers who had set up a temporary kiln near the ashram. Some devotees in town were called in to help move the bricks. One night they formed a human chain, with Bhagavan as one of the links, and transferred all the bricks one by one to the ashram. The following day a mud-and-brick wall was constructed around the samadhi. Bhagavan himself did all the work on the inside of the wall while a professional mason worked on the outside. The 'temple' was completed by erecting a thatched roof on top of the wall. This construction, the forerunner of the temple that now stands on the same site, remained unchanged for more than ten years.

Chaganlal Yogi felt that the proposal was unacceptable. But because he was a newcomer and was feeling rather shy, he felt that he had no alternative but to accept. Chinnaswami made all the arrangements for his luggage but before we could depart we had first to cross the hurdle of telling Bhagavan about our mission.

Chinnaswami never came before Bhagavan to speak; he always used to send a messenger if information had to be passed on to Bhagavan. On this occasion he selected me and asked me to tell Bhagavan about our journey. 'How can I tell Bhagavan such a thing?' I asked. 'You come with me.'

Chinnaswami did not even have the courage for that so we had to collect some other people. We all went to Bhagavan while he was having a rest alone in the afternoon. We stood before him for some time but he didn't even look at us. His gaze was fixed elsewhere.

Each of us wanted one of the others to speak. Finally, Mouniswami told him what we wanted. For a long time Bhagavan made no response, but eventually he spoke: 'I have told you not to beg in my name. Now I am telling you again. Be satisfied with what you have. What is to happen will happen.

'If you now go and ask for money, will not the donors ask you whether you have my agreement or not, and whether I gave you permission for this? What do you intend to tell them if they ask questions like this?'

Chaganlal Yogi had got the excuse he was looking for. He told Bhagavan, 'Unless we tell them that you consented to this, none of them will given even a paisa.'

What more could they do? They slipped out one by one, and Chinnaswami's journey was cancelled. After this incident Bhagavan remarked, 'Did the construction of all these buildings occur because of my begging? It all happened in the way it was destined to happen. Nothing happens purely as a result of anyone's own efforts.'

Bhagavan's attitude to the construction work, and to the financing of it, is also brought out in the following stories which were narrated to me by Annamalai Swami:

Because all the stone masons who were working on the temple were paid on a daily basis, I was asked to supervise some of them to ensure that the ashram got value for money. Although I knew nothing about temple construction, I had had enough experience of supervising workers to see that the stone-masons were deliberately working very slowly. Since they were classified as skilled workers, they were getting a very high daily wage for doing very little. It seemed to me that they were deliberately taking about three days to do one day's work. I told them that they were cheating the Asramam, and I tried to persuade them to work more honestly, but they refused to change their ways.

One of them told me, 'All you people are eating and sleeping here for nothing. Why are you troubling us about work? It is no loss to you if we work slowly.'

After a few unsuccessful attempts to get them to work, I reported the matter to Bhagavan.

I told him, 'The temple workers are working very slowly. In the evening Chinnaswami pays them whatever I have written on the wages list. I don't like to waste the ashram's money on dishonest workers, but I have no authority to dismiss them. If I write each day that they must be paid for work that they have not done, am I not also cheating the Ashamam?'

Bhagavan replied, 'Don't worry about this matter. If they cheat like this and get money that they have not earned out of the Asramam, this money will not stay with them. Ultimately they will find that their only possessions are their hammers and chisels. The wages that they have received dishonestly will go to waste. They cannot cheat Bhagavan, they can only cheat themselves.'

Then, after pausing for a while, he added, 'We should not worry about the financial aspect of the work because God will supply all the money that we need.'

As usual, Bhagavan's faith was justified. The temple put a severe strain on the Asramam's finances but we always managed to keep the work going. On some days the ashram had to depend on donations received during the day to pay the wages in the evening. At the start of the day we would hire workers, even though we knew that we had no money to pay them. During the day donations would arrive in various ways and by evening there would always be enough to pay the workers.'

Bhagavan made daily visits to the temple to watch the progress of the construction and to inspect the quality of the workmanship. If any of the work was not up to standard, he would call attention to it and request that the necessary improvements be made. On one visit, for example, he pointed out that there was too much space between the flagstones around the garbhagraha (the inner shrine), and on another occasion he requested that some cracks in the wall be property pointed with cement. Bhagavan occasionally initiated jobs himself. For example, when the walls of the garbhagraha had been completed, Bhagavan decided that the name of the temple should be inscribed on the front wall. Annamalai Swami, who was asked to help with this work, told me how it was done:

If one looks over the entrance to the garbhagraha one can see two elephants carved out of stone. Under their feet is a carved stone scroll. The full name of the temple, 'Mathrubuteswaralayam', meaning 'the temple of God in the form of the Mother', is carved in stone on this scroll. Bhagavan himself wrote out this name for me in big Sanksrit letters. His idea was that I should make a stencil and then paint the letters on the scroll. Later, one of the sthapatis would carve out the name by chiselling out the area covered by the painted letters.

I sat in Bhagavan's presence in the hall, carefully cutting out the name. I kept all my attention on the work because I knew that I would not be able to get away with even the smallest of mistakes. Bhagavan was watching me all the time I was working. At about 3 p.m. Bhagavan used to go out of the hall to urinate. At that time, on that day, he stood up and started to move towards the door. Everyone in the hall, except for me, stood up. I was in the middle of cutting out a letter; but I didn't want to risk spoiling it by taking my scissors away from the paper.

I should also write about Sri Soundaryamba Shatkam, (shatkam = six versepoem), composed by Kavyakanta Ganapati Sastri, on the Mahapooja Day of Mother Azhagamma, Bhagavan Ramana's Mother. (I think this must be in the year 1922).

This is a poem in Sanskrit in six verses.

1. In the first quarter of the night of Friday, the ninth monthof the dark fortnight of Vaisaka month, Dhundubi year,....

2. Wife of Sundaram Iyer born in the exalted lineage of Bharadwaja,Parasara and mother of Ramana Maharshi, born as an Avataraof Guru Guha, the blessed lady.

3. One devoid of any attachment, one cleansed by bhaktito Siva, on whose Prana was arrested by the touch of Guha(Ramana Maharshi), one whose tendencies were all destroyedthat very moment.

4. She, Soundaryamba, became the Light which can be knownonly by the Vedantic Vakyas, which is all pervasive, and whichwas known by Her son.

5. Smt. Soundaryamba (Mother Azhagamma)*, the stream whichpoured out of the lotus palms of Ramana Maharshi became anew teertha**, the Aghasamana Teertham, the waters whichremove all sins.

6. Glory to the holy mother of sacred Ramana. Glory to the Samadhi. Glory to the Linga*** consecrated by the Maharshi. Glory to the new Agahasamana Teertham.

Today is the Maha Puja (Liberation Day) of Mother Azhagammal. She attained Liberation on this dayat Skandasramam. While she was in her last hours, Bhagavan placed His hands on the head and on thechest and caused her various vasanas to become extinguished. Then He made her incoming breath to merge in the Heart and thus she attained Liberation. ( Krishna Paksha -Navami)

There will be special abhishekam, alankaram and arti for the Matrubhuteswarar Lingam and also to the deity in the same premises.

O One who is the Beginning and the End !Into me Who lay entrenched in Karma,You entered,Abode and declared somewhat thus:``Come along !I am the Destroyer of Karma.`` You also proclaimed:``I am so and so.`` Thus did You inform me of Yourself,And became my Lord-Ruler !I,who am like A doll of steel,do not hail you in song;neither do I Dance in joy.Alas,I cry not aloud;I faint not;My life ebbs not.O First One !Does what I have Turned to be,become me at all?Ha,I know not what will ultimately betide me !

This decade is called Suttaruthal i.e.removing the habit of pointing towards others. All the five indriyas depend on 'pointing towards others'. Even what the mind, buddhi and ahankaramtakes into account is 'pointing towards others'. The saint poet wants Siva is to remove these habits of suttu i.e. pointing towards others. Since all are Siva Swarupam, there is no usefulpurpose in pointing to 'others'.

`O One of spreading matted hair on which the flood Descended amain !O Rider of the Bull !O Lord-God of the supernals !`` Hearing You thus hailed With yearning heart,down they fell headlong Like water falling into the deep;leaving such who Tremble and melt for You,You chose to rule me.My soul and my limbs from crown to sole of foot Melt not like the loving heart.O unapproachable One !My whole body,like eyes,Does not shed tears that flow like a flood;I am the one of evil Karma;my heart is but a stone;Mine eyes twain are verily rugged wood.

O Abhirami, my Mother! You are having in your graceful hands sweet sugarcane and flower bunches.On your lotus like body You are having a pearl garland! Over the private part, which resembles a ferocioussnake's head, You are having silk saree and mekalai (an ornament around the waist). Your consort Siva is having eight directions as His attire. You are in the left form of my Lord Siva.

It is not unreasonable or fanciful to compare the relationship of Tattuvaraya and Sorupananda with one that existed between Muruganar and Bhagavan. Tattuvaraya and Muruganar came to their Gurus,who both liked to teach through silence, and realized the Self soon afterwards. They both subsequently composed thousands of verses that either praised their respective Gurus, or recorded some aspect of their teachings. Tattuvaraya's poems in praise of his Guru and Sivaprakasa Swami, his Guru's Guru,include Venba Antadi (100 verses), Kalitturai Antadi (100 verses), Irattai Mani Malai (20 verses),Nanmanimalai (40 verses), Jnana Vinodan Kalambagam (101 verses), Kali Madal (232 verses), Ula (393 verses), and many many more. Then there was the Bharani that Bhagavan mentikoned; a 493 verse poem,(Ajnavatai Bharani, on the annihilation of ignorance by the 'hero' Sorupananda. Mokavatai Bharani was another 850 verse Bharani on the killing of delusion that includes in its text 110 songs in which a goddessinstructs her followers in Vedanta. These 110 songs are often published independently as a Tamizh primeron Vedanta under the title Sasivanna Bodham. That is the work that Tattuvaraya composed while Sorupananda was having his meal. Selected translations of one Tattuvaraya's works on Vedanta (Amrita Saram) will appear in the next issue of the Mountain Path.

The explanation is that the world is Mithya. Just as we our waking selves are unaffected by any suffering that might take place in our dreams, so the non dual reality is unaffected by apparent suffering in the world.The dream is pratibhasa; the gross universe is vyavahara; the reality is Paramartha. A metaphor encounteredin the scripture is that of a person in the bright sunlight casting a shadow. The shadow might 'collide' with awall or 'fall into' water but the person casting it as well as the shadow itself, is totally unaffected by it.

Creation according to the scripture:

Having briefly looked at the sort of theories that are usually considered in respect of creation of the universe,Gaudapada now begins his demolishing process by seeing what the scriptures say. His own methods areprimarily to use reason and logic so that there can be no argument. Traditionally, however, especially withrespect to aspects that are outside of our own direct experience, teachers refer to what is said in the scripture.This source is believed to contain answers to those questions which cannot be answered by recourse to perception and inference. The scriptures contain truths which were 'revealed' to ancient sages and havebeen passed down from teacher to disciple ever since.

219. That Grace of God will not desert any one, she will surely lead all to Deliverance. Some will be delivered soon, others after a long time.

220. The devotee may think, 'I am practicing devotion to God by my own efforts'; but this is not true,because it is God who pursues the deluded soul, who is wandering blindly in this forest of Samsara,and takes hold of him by His Grace.

221. The extent of God's Grace is so much, that He gives Himself to devotees; for when by His Grace,the ego is destroyed, then the aspirant obtains the State of Non difference from Him.

222. God is that kind of magnetic mountain which draws the souls to Himself, makes them motionlessand consumes them like food and ever after safeguards them in the Supreme State which is one of Endless Bliss, which is His own State.

223, 224: As the river, born by the rains of the clouds rising from the sea, returns to its source,the sea, and the bird, wandering for a long time in the sky, obtains rest by returning to its home in earth, so the soul, which has originated from the Supreme One, after wandering in this Samsara forimmense period, returning in the reverse direction, rejoins that Supreme One, from whom he originated.

Ribhu thus became enlightened by Siva's teaching in the form of aphorisms. Saluting Mahadeva in submission,he praised the Lord of Kailasa in extemporaneous hymns of devotion. Later, he shared this knowledge obtained from Siva Mahadeva, with other sages.

Kumara, the son of Girija, narrated Ribhu's hymn to Siva, to Jaigishavaya the great one who conquered the six foes.

3. Skanda:

Ribhu hymned Isana, who is with Amba the universal mother and obtained knowledge of the Self. That great Sivayogi then praised Hara who revels in the octonary form (the five elements, the sun,the moon and the Self.

4. Ribhu:

I salute the Lord -

who vanquished the demon element Gajasura and wrapped the shining hide over His shoulders covering also the matted locks resembling groups of honey bees flocking onto a rutting elephant'scheeks wetted by the odrorous secretions, who resembles the fierce lion tearing open the crowns of elephants with its sharp claws while slaughtering evil forces, the blood trickling from whose nails(that resemble incisive knives) is indeed marvelous sight,

whose effulgence envelopes the Vindhya range of hills and who is a great purifier and the embodimentof purity,

who penetrates the entire universe which is but an emanation from Him,

who is revealed by the Vedas and whose feet are extolled in devotional verses of diverse meters, and whois the best doctor for the disease called the world arising from the heart. Protect me, O Sambhu!

5. Thou has arisen with Thy powerful arms resembling the trunks of ferocious elephants, and liftedthe Mount Meru as bow and punished the invincible Tripurasuras. In that campaign Thou hast expanded Thy form to fulfill the great expanse when the moon and stars appeared as ornaments on Your crown. When thou hast administered the great bow ambidextrously, it reflected the dazzling luster of Thy cheeks.

The white-washed mansions of the gem-paved streetsUnfurl into the clouds their pennants from the poles; Above these at night the stars of the sky twinkle; These are like the many-hued flowers that un-petalDuring the day.

Even in the muddy play-field they imitateThe rituals of the Yaga; Their golden anklets tinkle as they ply through dustTheir tintinnabular toy-cars; Thus thrive the Brahmin-children in the serried streets.

With golden ear-pendants danglingAnd saree-ends tucked behindThey coat with cow-dung the sacred pit of fireAnd draw comely Kolam;Their hair is dark like the rain-cloudAnd they are constant as the Northern star. The mansions in that city are thereforePassing rich with the peerless help-meets.